Second Imperium
by sith lord9
Summary: What would happen if an entire chapter of Space Marines were suddenly thrust right into the middle of the Human/Covenant war? History would have been rewritten, thats what.
1. Chapter 1: Through the Fire and Flames

This is my first attempt at fiction so please review this story and tell me what you think would help it along. Please nothing overtly negative. Also I would like to Say thanks to he who fell from grace for allowing me to use one of his ideas and giving me the idea for this story. If you'd like to read his story search for "The Emperor works in weird ways".

So after those words enjoy.

Lance beams and gauss blast crisscrossed the darkness of space. Heralds of Light chapter master Mark Anthony smiled as he saw another Necron ship go up in a silent explosion. Suddenly a second salvo of lance beams from the Space Marine battle barge _Harbinger of Dawn_ struck another medium size Necron vessel vaporizing a sizable chunk of it. Turning to the chapter serf in charge of fleet communication Mark said "notify Brother-Captain Nero to move his strike cruiser _Dawn's Rays _and finish of that crippled Xenos abomination." "Your will lord" said the serf, transmitting the message.

Suddenly a bight light appeared in front of the _Harbinger of Dawn_. "What was that?" Mark asked. "The _Illuminating Brilliance_'s Nova Cannon scored a direct hit on the Necron flagship, Lord" said the serf in charge of sensors. "Good, Tell Brother-Captain Marcus to press in and get more hits" Mark said. Suddenly the serf in charge of sensors screamed "energy spike detected from the Necron tomb ship!" "bring it up on the main view screen" Mark shouted. The main view port on the bridge started to display the image of the Necron tomb ship on screen.

Shaped like a half oval with a bite taken out of the middle, In the middle of the ship a golden pyramid started to glow radiantly. On the tip of the pyramid a green ball of roiling energy was forming, growing bigger by the second. "Lord all remaining Necron ships are converging on the tomb ship" the sensor serf said. "What???" Mark roared. "look at the main screen again" the serf said. Looking at the screen Mark could see the remnants of the Necron fleet flying from off screen to slow down and then combine with the tomb ship in showers of green lightning. Also growing larger was the orb on top of the pyramid.

"Sir the orb is increasing with each ship that combines with the tomb ship" "I can see that" snapped Mark. The serf flinched from the harsh words. "maybe you should apologize after all its not his fault." blared a harsh mechanical voice. "Gregor when did you arrive on the bridge?" Mark asked exasperatedly. "since those Xenos filth started to run away" the Dreadnought replied. Mark glanced back at the white box with golden trim that housed his first and longest friend. Sighing he turned to the sensor serf and said "I aplologize" Mark said.

Swiveling back around Mark was starteled to see that the green orb had grown even bigger. "Sensors how big is the orb?" "It has grown to the size of a red giant star and…" "Never mind that an orb of that size can swallow the entire chapter fleet!" "Fleet Comms tell the rest of the fleet to fall back with all haste" Mark bellowed over the hooting and ringing warning klaxons. "To late Mark" said Gregor. Whirling around to the view screen Mark was just in time to see the orb detach it's self from the tomb ship. The green light enveloped everything before darkness consumed him.

If one had been an observer from a good enough distance one would have seen an entire Imperial Space Marine chapter fleet with an Imperial Navy detachment attack a smaller fleet of Necrons gathered around a Hive world halfway through harvesting it's population. 30 minutes through the battle one would also have noticed the Necron fleet fall back and Combine with the tomb ship. About 2 minutes after that the giant green orb descended on the Imperial fleet swallowing it entirely before turning and twisting in on its self and disappearing in a blinding flash of light. Leaving the massive Necron ship alone in orbit above the planet, after a brief pause it then heeled around to continue harvesting the Humans on the hive world.


	2. Chapter 2: Unexpected Guest

The only thing I borrowed from the Halo novel "Fall of Reach" is the time/date and location, plus the first whole page, and a a few sentences from the second page of Chapter Thirty-Three. Also I own neither any claim to Halo or Warhammer 40,000 except the idea of this story.

**0534 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) / UNSC **_**Pillar of Autumn**_**, Epsilon Eridani System**

The _Pillar of Autumn_ detonated its port emergency thrusters. The ship slid out of the path of the asteroid, missing it by ten meters- The Covenant plasma trailing them did not. It impacted the city-sized rock and sent fountains of molten iron and nickel spewing into space. Nine of the ten teardrop-shaped Covenant fighters- nicknamed "Seraphs" by ONI-dodged the asteroid as well. The tenth ship slammed into the asteroid and vanished from the bridge's view screen.The other single ships accelerated and swarmed around the _Pillar of Autumn_, her with pulse laser fire.

"Cortana," Captain Keyes said, "activate our point defense system." The _Pillar of Autumn_'s 50mm cannons flashed-chipping away at the Covenant ships' shields. "Already engaged, Captain," Cortana said calmaly. "Ensign Lovell," Captain Keyes said. "Engines all stop and bring us about one hundred eighty degrees. Lieutenant Hikowa, ready our MAC gun and arm Archer missile pods A1 through A7. I want a firing solution that has our Archer missiles hitting with the third MAC round." "On it, sir," Lieutenant Hikowa replied. "Aye, sir," Ensign Lovell said. "Answering engines all stop. Coming about. Brace yourselves." The _Pillar of Autumn_'s engines sputtered and died. Navigational thrusters fired and rotated the ship to face the real threat-a Covenant carrier.

Suddenly a brilliant green light appeared out of no where blinding the entire bridge crew. "Cortana," Capitan Keyes said, "status report, on the double!" "Sir," Cortana replied " our radar is picking up multiple large metallic objects ahead and around us." "bring it up on the view screen." Keys said. "Done sir" Cortana replied. Looking at the main view screen, keys could see several large warships that dwarfed his cruiser in size. What amazed him though was the ship they were in formation around. It was easily four times the size of a Covenant carrier, bristling with large gun mounts from stem to stern, it was also covered in a Goth artist wet dream's worth of gargoyles and angels. But what was most shocking about it was the massive golden double headed eagle on the things prow. The head on the left was blind, while the head on the right had an eye.

Keyes was pondering what it's meaning was when Cortana said "Captain, look at the Covenant Carrier!" "Oh my God." Keyes said softly. What appeared to be on of the newcomers ships was fused right at the mid-section of the Covenant carrier. "Cortana, can you explain what exactly happened there with that Covenant carrier and that other… ship?" Captain Keys asked "Negative" Cortana replied "I was as blind as you all were due to that green light." "What do you mean?" Keyes said curiously " I mean that that when that light appeared I had to act as fast as I could before it overloaded every single one of our sensors." "wait were picking up multiple transmissions on several channels." Cortana said matter of factly "There is multiple Covenant inter-ship chatter, things about Demons onboard and multiple hull fractures" "What about the other frequency?" Keys asked? "I don't know I can't quite understand it, it sounds like multiple Earth languages but I can't be sure. Give me some more time to try and translate it." "Very well" Keyes responded. "But do hurry it appears they aren't expecting guests." At that remark several of the new ships had veered out of formation on the Huge capital ship and turned towards his ship. "Definitely not expecting guest." Keys muttered. "What do we do sir?" Hikowa said. "Let's not be hasty, after all they out gun us like…" "seven to one" Cortana interjected. "Exactly so lets see what they what, Hell they might even be here to help."


	3. Chapter 3: Boarding Actions

By the way words in **"Bold letters like this"** mean a Gothic speaker talking in Gothic around or to somebody who doesn't understand it.

"Sir Brother-Captain Jonathan says he was boarded by hostile Xenos, but has pushed them back to there ship and is now counter-boarding them. He also says the Fifth Company has sustained light casualties and one grievously wounded and ten killed." "Sir all ships except Brother-Captain Jonathan's report they are all right and still in position around us." "Sir…" Mark stood at the center of the storm of individual ship acknowledgements and fleet status. Suddenly he turned to Tech-Marine Brother Isaac as he helped try and get Gregor right side up again. "As soon as you are done there I want you to do a scan of the ship at the ship status console," pointing to the console with a chapter-serf who had a jagged piece of shrapnel sticking out from the back of his head. "And report back the ships status to me as soon as possible." "Brother-Librarian Rafael" "Yes lord?" Rafael said. "I want you to scan the immediate are for any signs the Necron tomb ship and any other Xenos or traitor scum lurking nearby." Mark said. "Yes lord" Rafael replied before putting on a look of immense concentration. "Sir all ship system's check out okay, void shielding is at two hundred percent. Reactors one, two, and three are at one hundred percent. Starboard and Port side lance batteries are at one hundred percent and holding. Also Tech-Cardinal Baroque says the manufactorium is up and running again." "Very well, tell Tech-Cardinal Baroque that he has my sincerest thanks for getting things up and running so soon." Also tell Fleet Admiral Walter that I thank him for forming up around us in a protective screen. "Now get me a connection to Brother-Captain Jonathan…"

"…ome in …Brothe…are you…situation report." Captain of the Fifth Company Brother Jonathan strained to hear the word's of Chapter Master Mark Anthony. Sighing inwardly he turned to Veteran Sergeant William of his HQ squad and said "Try to scrub the interference out of the signal, or get me a new channel." "Yes Sir" William replied. Pausing for a second he took a minute to inspect the hangar bay he and at least half the Company were trying to clear out. It was lit from what appeared all directions by a strange bluish purple light. It stretched from the end where Jonathan and company were sheltered behind two disassembled Xenos fighters with several others ready for take off scattered around the middle to the other side where the damnable aliens had set up two rapid fire plasma cannons and some sort of portable energy shields. Already two Brothers lay fallen on the deck. Their corpses smoking, a testament to their plasma cannons rate of fire. Snapping out of his thoughts he tried to glance around one of the thruster cowlings, only to be forced to duck around again as one of the turrets sent a withering hail of fire at the spot where his head had just been. "By the Emperor I've had enough of this nonsense" Jonathan said angrily. "Everybody listen up!" turning to the Marines behind him. "Okay Tactical squads , I want you to lay down some suppressing fire on those damned aliens, put out so much fire they can't even poke an appendage out from behind that barrier." Turning to the devastator squads with them he said "while the tactical squads lay down suppressing fire take aim at that fire point, when our fire lets up hit them while they try to man those guns again." Turning to the 5 assault squads he said "after they slag those guns you all will haul it over there double time and eliminate any enemy resistance." "Does everybody understand their objectives?" As one the Marines replied as one "Sir Yes Sir!" Mark felt infected by confidence they showed him. "Very well then boys, FOR THE EMPEROR!!!" "FOR THE EMPEROR!!!" the Marines replied. "alright then tactical squads OPEN FIRE!". Immediately the tactical squads started laying down blisteringly accurate fire. The two hunched back aliens on the plasma guns never knew what hit them. One was blown apart instantly by the amount of bolts his body was hit with. The other one hunched down behind his gun and started to return fire. But soon a three round burst from one Marines bolter hit it in the head. The first two made its shields flare and collapse, the third entered its elongated head and upon detecting significant mass detonated. The resulting explosion blew its head and part of its upper torso to red mush. The other aliens decided to just poke their weapons around the shields edges and blind fire at the Marines. Immediately upon seeing this effect Jonathan said "Tactical squads cease fire. Devastator squads wipe those Xenos scum from my sight!" "Sir Yes Sir" rising up from the cover they had been hunched behind the Devastators opened up on the impromptu bunker. Las cannons reached out blasting the shield generators, overloading them. Plasma cannons and multi-meltas vaporized the enemy plasma cannons and metal blockades. Heavy bolters and krak missiles blew apart the aliens now out in the open without cover. Most though just took cover behind other objects that hadn't been vaporized. Seeing the enemy cowering behind cover Jonathan gave the last order. "Assault squads go now!" Rising up on pillars of fire they immediately made a straight line for the enemy. Some more curious souls poked their heads out to investigate the noise, only to have them popped open by accurate bolt pistol fire. Landing in front of the aliens cover, they activated their chainswords and went to work. It took one stroke with a chain sword to drain one of the alien's shields. The next stoke either disemboweled the aliens or decapitated them. Three minutes later the alien screams and human war cries had ceased. Then a triumphant sounding assault sergeant said "all clear Sir" "very good" Jonathan replied. "All Marines move out" "Apothecaries tend to the fallen" "Everyone else follow Me!" Trotting to the door the aliens had been guarding, Jonathan could see it led to another of the alien's damnable purplish light colored hallways. It stretched for about ten feet of unbroken before two doors could be seen on either side. One was open and purplish light was spilling out of it. Seeing that it would be suicide probably to send normal Marines down the hall with out knowing what was waiting for them, Jonathan turned to the five Assault Terminators with him. "I need you five to go ahead of the main group and secure those doors." "Yes Sir!" they replied. Setting off down the hall they got nearly half way to the doors before they came under fire. Blue and green plasma blast hit them but it wasn't as strong as Imperial plasma fire, plus Terminator armor was made to with stand tougher fire. So wading down the hallway plasma darkening their white armor they got to within two feet of the door, when a Gold armored alien stepped out and roaring a challenge of defiance charged the leading Terminator. He had just activated his power claws and brought them up to a defensive position when a blue energy blade impacted upon them. Momentarily caught off guard by this new weapon he was to slow to block the alien's next attack. Suddenly a brilliant flash of blue and the sword was buried almost to the hilt in his chest cavity. Realizing it had disintegrated both of his hearts, leaving him seconds to act, he cocked one arm back. Surprise or what passed for it in the aliens species flashed across it face before it realized it had five energized claws buried fully in its chest. Both combatants looked at each other before they both collapsed. The other four Terminators moved there dead Battle-Bother and the alien to the side of the hallway. Looking inside both doors the sergeant of the squad voxed back to Jonathan "Hallway clear you can move up now." "Good hold position until the rest of the company gets there." He was about to send the rest of the squad forward, when he heard Chapter Master Mark's voice "Brother-Captain Jonathan can you hear me?" "Loud and clear Lord." Jonathan replied. "Good have you secured the enemy ships reactor?" Mark asked. "Yes I have, do you have a plan in mind?" Jonathan said. "Yes and this is how it works…"

Fifteen minutes later Mark stood with Jonathan on the of _Harbinger of Dawn_'s bridge; Both of them were watching the main view screen as the _Brilliant Dawn_'s reactor and the aliens ships went critical, turning both of the ships into subatomic ash in space. "Well now shall we greet our new friends?" Mark asked. "Who might they be sir?" Jonathan said. "Them" Mark said pointing to the bridge's main view screen. On it there was a small rectangular ship hovering darkly at the edge of the asteroids. "I suppose sir, but if you will excuse me I've got to make sure the Fifth is squared away." Jonathan said, turning around and exiting off the bridge. "Helm, get us under way toward the asteroids cruising speed." Mark said to the serf at the controls of the_ Harbinger of Dawn_'s thrusters. "Right away Lord" the serf said. "Now Vox Master open a channel to that ship" Mark said. Turning to Rafael, Mark said "Now they are human right?" "Yes I am positive of it they are all human and none of them are tainted either." Rafael replied. "very well then" Mark said. "vox channel open you are free to speak Lord." the serf in charge of vox communications said. "Very good, let's get on with this" Mark said.


	4. Chapter 4: Reinforcments

0558 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_, Epsilon Eridani System

"Okay Cortana do you have any more data on our guest?" Captain Keyes. "No sir other than there language I was unable to obtain any other files or records on them. They have some pretty dull but secretive AI. They almost caught me while I was in there network, which is why I could only obtain their language." Cortana said. "Huh? Oh well at least if they hail us you can translate for us." Keyes said. "Incoming video from that fleet, Sir should I Patch it through?" Lieutenant Dominique said from the Comms station. "Are you ready Cortana?" Keyes asked "Yes translation softwear up and running I will translate it to English" said Cortana. "very well Lieutenant patch it to the main screen." Keyes said "Aye Sir patching it through now." Dominique said, typing in commands on his keyboard. Suddenly a man appeared on screen. Even though only his face was showing it was huge. Dark hair shaved close to his skull, equally dark eyes stared out from his face. After a few seconds he spoke "**Hail humans I am Chapter Master Mark Anthony of the Heralds of Light Space Marines. Who are you and what are you doing here?**" seconds after he spoke his language which Keyes thought held some Latin origin, it was translated into English for every one on the bridge. Down in one of the cargo bays the remaining Spartans of the Spartan-II project huddled around a monitor watching intently. "Cortana translate my response in there language." Captain Keyes said. To the screen he said "I am Captain Jacob Keyes of the UNSC cruiser _Pillar of Autumn_ and while I'd love to talk about politics and such the largest Covenant fleet we've ever seen is closing on Reach." Keyes said. Now he though we wait and see…

Mark Anthony sat in the command chair of the _Harbinger of Dawn_, located on the bridge. "**Sensors where is the Xenos fleet?**" Mark said. "It is rapidly approaching the planet Captain Keyes called Reach" the sensors serfsaid. Turning to the camera Mark said "**Very well we will help you and your comrades fight off these Covenant scum.**" Turning to the Vox master he motioned form him to cut the transmission. "Fleet master send the order out, we mobilize for War!"

The Imperial fleet moved towards the planet Reach. As they were headed there a Covenant destroyer popped out of slipspace. Immediately it launched a volley of plasma torpedoes at the _Harbinger of Dawn_. The first torpedoes impacted on the void shield draining them down to 95. Unfortunately the destroyer didn't get to launch any more torpedoes. It was vaporized by at least six different lance beam salvos. "Those Xenos scum kind of pack a punch" Mark said jokingly. But still he thought better to be safe than sorry. "Brother Isaac bring the fourth generator online." Mark said "Yes Lord" Tech-Marine Isaac said. "Sensors are we in range of the enemy yet?" Mark asked "no sir not yet." The serf replied. "I was not asking with the lance batteries." Mark said "Emperor's bones you don't mean to use the Vortex Cannon do you?" Gregor asked, having been keeping his own council since the incident began. "Yes I do, but don't worry Gregor its only one shot" Mark said "Master of the Cannon prepare the Vortex Cannon to fire, and plot a course for the shot to do the maximum amount of damage." "Yes Sir" the Tech-Marine in charge of the maintenance and firing of the Vortex Cannon said trough the vox speaker in Mark's Command Chair.

Deep below decks on a scaffold overlooking the Vortex Cannon, Tech-Marine Brother Samuel studied the other Tech-Marines blessing and anointing the massive 500 ton Vortex shell being feed carefully into the breach of the Vortex Cannon. Turning from there preparations Samuel studied the Vortex Cannon remembering everything he knew about it. Built before the the start of the Great Crusade in the massive shipyards orbiting Terra then installed on the _Harbinger of Dawn_, the only _Jupiter_-class Battle Barge ever built before the start of the Horus Heresy. The others being destroyed before being completed in the space battles over Terra. The Vortex Cannon was in effect a Massive magnetic accelerator cannon that ran the length of the _Harbinger of Dawn_, firing a projectile that upon reaching its destination, opened a massive Warp tunnel that lasted for 5-10 seconds depending on its programming. But during those brief few seconds it sucked everything into the Warp. Now after being lovingly tended to for over 10,000 years the Vortex Cannon was being prepared to fire in anger at the Emperors enemies once again. After waiting another few minutes the shell was loaded and the Cannons capacitors charged Samuel reached up and pulled the firing cord. And the great gun spoke once more…

It took the projectile a little under three seconds to reach the center of the Covenant fleet formation; detonating right next to a monstrous Covenant flagship. Immediately three-fourths of the Covenant fleet were sucked into the howling madness of the Warp. But that still left over a hundred Covenant ships of various sizes. But several Nova cannon shots destroyed or disabled half that number so instead of suffering further orbital loses they immediately went to ground on the planet Reach. Making landfall the survivors disgorged over a hundred thousand Covenant ground troops, tens of thousands of Ghosts and Wraiths, and several hundred Scarabs. Before retreating to slipspace the Covenant ships launched a devastating but brief barrage of Reach. Leaving the garrisoned troops of Reach shell shocked and in disarray there was only one way to keep Reach from falling to the Covenant and turning the Super MAC guns in orbit on the humans. That was to send in the Space Marines!!!


	5. Chapter 5: Battle for Reach

To everyone that has reviewed the story so far thank you I will continue to do my best in making my story good for everyone. Also sorry about the walls of text in the first three chapters It's just that I'm used to reading books with pages jammed full of words so I guess that's why I typed that way but rest assured it won't happen again.

Also to Duckman 154 but everyone else also the Heralds of Light are chapter that don't rigidly adhere to the Codex Astartes. But that's besides the stuff I failed to include. They were fighting alongside an Imperial fleet that had been escorting the Fifth and Sixth Steel Legion Regiments, along with a Death Korps of Kreig regiment and the Steel Hammers Titan Legion from the nearby Forge-World of Vulcan (the last one I made up).

Should have thought of that earlier but now that the Heralds of Light will be fighting against 100,000's of thousands of Covenant not to mention their support vehicles and Scarabs ; They will need a little help because the UNSC might have Marines but in a one to one fight they pretty much get dominated even with Spartans(Spartans are mostly a commando force not a stand up drag out army). Also I wanted the Heralds of Light to be individual and for that I invented the _Harbinger of Light_ and made up the ship class _Jupiter_ because it was the biggest thing I could think of at the time.

Also your point is very valid emperorprotects. Imperial technology is #!T loads better than even the best Covenant tech but the reason I'm throwing in three Guard regiments and a Titan legion is something I'm going to throw in later for now lets just say it involves Chaos and the Flood

Also I apologize for taking so long with this chapter.

But without further talk here is the newest chapter of Second Imperium.

Hurtling through the atmosphere at velocities incalculable at the present, Brother-Captain Jonathan rode down through the atmosphere strapped into the drop pod with his HQ squad as it hurtled down toward the Covenant positions on Reach. Suddenly the Covenant opened up with anti-air fire no doubt in the hopes of knocking down some of the incoming drop pods. Then as suddenly as it began it ceased, certainly switching to try and knock down some of the bigger juicier Imperial Thunderhawks and Valkyries coming in behind the faster moving drop pods. Hitting a few buttons on the panel in front of him Jonathan brought up an image from the _Herald of Light_ moving in the other Imperial ships to launch precision orbital bombardments. After hitting a few more buttons he brought up an image showing the drop pods almost to the planets surface with a timer counting down till impact. Nodding in satisfaction Jonathan switched to the Fifth Company's vox channel. "Brothers the fleet is going to soften up the Xenos scum for us!" Jonathan said sarcastically. "Did we ever need their help to begin with brothers?" He said again. "NO Sir!" the Marines of his company answered as one. "Well then do you know what this fight is going to be now?" Jonathan asked. When no one answered he said "a bloody Massacre that the Emperor himself would be proud of!!" he roared. To which the Marines replied "For the Emperor!". Glancing at the screen in front of him once more Jonathan said " 30 seconds till impact remember all squads rally around me once we hit dirt." And with that he switched back to the HQ squads channel. "are you all ready for this?" Jonathan asked. "We won't let you down sir" they all said. "Good" Jonathan said. And then the drop pod hit the ground sending gouts of dirt and mud flying every direction. Immediately the doors opened up. Unsheathing his power sword and unholstering his plasma pistol, Jonathan leapt from the interior of the drop pod. Immediately he saw an Elite pick itself up from the ground only to be skewered on Jonathan's power sword. Pivoting to the left he flung the dead Elite off his sword, to bring another into the sight of his plasma pistol. Squeezing the trigger he sent a blue bolt into the face of the Elite, whose personal shields flared briefly before going out allowing the bolt to turn its head into a melted ruin. Coming out back to the world around him Jonathan nodded in satisfaction as he saw his HQ squad had eliminated all the nearby threats and were lending their support to a nearby tactical squad. Immediately he said "stand fast brothers reinforcements are heading your way" and with that he and his HQ squad waded into the fray once more…

"Gregor it's been a while hasn't it?" Alexander asked. "Yes it has been a while Alex, it was what Pegais 9?" Gregor replied. "Yes those were good times the Orks sure know how to fight, but they are still no match for the Emperors finest right, Mark?" Gregor said swiveling to face Mark. "What? Oh no, no they weren't" Mark said distractedly. "Were us old-timers boring you Mark?" Gregor asked "ridiculous Gregor I'm as old as you are and you know it, so don't even start that nonsense." Mark said severely. "But Mark it was just a…" "Joke? Gregor I know I just wanted to be the one to give the other a hard time for once." Mark said grinning boyishly at Gregor. "Why you Coy little…" "Lord Mark, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Companies have dropped on the outskirts of the Xenos armies probable HQ, and have engaged the enemy with minor wounded and no dead." The Thunderhawk pilot said. "Good have the _Harbinger of Dawn_ keep me updated with tactical information and casualties as they become available" Mark instructed the pilot. "Yes Lord" the pilot responded. "Where should we set down Lord?" the co-pilot asked. "Near the enemy of course!" Gregor said, making the question seem as if it was rhetorical. "What Gregor said" Mark responded. Switching to the honor guard's vox channel Mark said "are you Brothers ready to spill some Xenos blood for the Emperor?" " Yes Lord, we are ready to do the Emperor's work in eradicating the Xenos" replied the closest Terminator armored Brother. "Very well then let us make ready" Mark said. With that he test activated his thunder hammer and storm shield satisfied with his equipment he turned and looked to the two Dreadnoughts riding in the Thunderhawk with them. "Gregor, Alex are you two ready to go?" Mark asked. "One moment." Alex said; swiveling his twin-linked lascannon and rotating his missile pod. "Now I'm ready" he said. "I'm ready too now" Gregor said. Spinning his assault cannon and flexing his massive power fist. "Very well then, Honor Guard seal up!" with that command every one including Mark put on their helmets, six faint hisses as helmets sealed to armor seals forming airtight bonds. "Pilot are we their yet?" Mark asked. "Yes Lord standby, we're going to strafe the landing are before we descend" The Pilot said. With that the battlecannon opened fire with three shots one after the other. Then the side mounted twin-linked heavy bolters started to hose down any Covenant near the landing zone. One Elite simply disappeared into a bright crimson mist as bolter fire stitched past him. Several grunts and their Elite leader disappeared as a round from the Thunderhawk's battlecannon consumed them in a bright orange explosion. "Standby to disembark Lord Mark, we're coming to land. We killed at least twenty of the little bastards and they are still swarming around so it's going to be hot" the Pilot said. "you heard him Brothers, Stand UP!" Mark shouted; over the whine of the Thunderhawks engines as they lowered it to the ground. Lowering the ramp…Now!" the pilot shouted. The door had hardly lowered before Gregor pounded down the ramp, assault cannon spitting death at any alien brave or stupid enough to fire back at his armored sarcophagus. Alex followed losing of a volley of frag missiles and lascannon shots "Follow Me Brothers for the Emperor!" shouted Mark over the roar of the two Dreadnoughts suppressing fire. Running at the nearest Elite in sight Mark activated hi thunder hammer, plasma fire leaving little black scorch marks on his torso. The Elite had a look of surprise (or what passed form it for it's species Mark thought) before the thunder hammer sent it cart wheeling through the air. He then proceeded to launch several more Grunts and Elites through the air before the landing zone was cleared. "Well Brothers was that a good warm up or what?" Mark said sarcastically. "I didn't even get to use my Cyclone missiles" Brother Adam said longingly. "These pathetic aliens weren't even worth the ammo from my assault cannon" Gregor said. "Well there are plenty more aliens where that came from" Mark said. "Now let us hurry over and join Brother-Captain Jonathan, since he is the closest to us." And with that Mark strode off towards the east, the sounds of a war rumbling in the background…

"Emperor damn those Xenos bastards!" Jonathan said vehemently. As if on cue another barrage of plasma orbs descended from the Covenant artillery battery entrenched on the other side end of what remained of the forest. "Where is our damn air support?" he shouted at any one and no one in particular. "They have been shot down captain" Veteran Sergeant William replied. "I know" sighed Jonathan. He looked over at the smoldering remains of the Thunderhawk that had tried to support them. "Brother-Captain Jonathan what is the situation here?" came an authoritive voice over the 5th company's vox channel. "Chapter Master Mark?" Jonathan said whirling around to face the smoke from the last Covenant position the 5th had taken. "Who else could I be the Unknown Primarch?" Mark said. He had his thunder hammer slung on his back as he and his honor guard came striding out of the smoke. "Well as you can see we are pinned down by enemy artillery and there is about 100 feet or so of charred and shattered trees between us and them, plus they shot down our Gunship support so they have had us penned down for a good 10 minutes or so" Jonathan said. "Well then Captain you are in luck because I have just so happened upon our armor support." Mark said. Suddenly the wind shifted and blew the smoke away, behind which were enough Rhinos and Razorbacks for the entirety of the 5th along with several Predator Annihilator and Destructors plus one especially mean looking Land Raider Crusader. "Shall we mount up Captain?" Mark asked. "By the Emperor I'd thought you'd never ask" said Jonathan. "Very well then embark your troops on the Rhinos and Razorbacks" Mark said. "What will you ride in Lord?" Jonathan asked. "I shall lead the charge on the Xenos scum in my Land Raider" Mark stated. "Yes sir!" Jonathan said, then switching vox channels he said "You heard Chapter Master Mark, Brothers Embark!" and with that the entirety of the 5th company, a little under 500 men strong filled into the waiting Rhinos and Razorbacks…

"Whirlwinds open up a creeping barrage 30 seconds on the first line of defense and work your way up from there" Mark said. "Yes sir" The Battle Brothers in charge of them said. Mark swiveled the multi-melta on the top of the Crusader towards the rear of it, where the rest of the armored column was following his Crusader. The five Whirlwinds at the back of the column angled their rockets towards the enemy started firing their deadly payloads at the Covenant forward defense line, bight flashes and then white contrails the Vengeance missiles hurtling towards the aliens. The Covenant forward defense line; situated in a dry river bed, provided little protection to the large assortment of Covenant hunkering down getting ready for the armored thrust. But at the first sight of the missiles hundreds of one man fast moving hover sleds and slightly slower 4 man hover sleds followed behind. Almost all of them had left the low dip of the river bed, which had hidden them from the advancing Space Marine armor before the missiles impacted. But a few of the smaller ones (Ghosts if Mark remembered right and the bigger ones Specters) and one of the bigger ones were sent flying through the air by the detonations of the Vengeance missiles. Most of the aliens had already fallen back to the other rocky side of the river, but there were still enough to warrant the barrage. Grunts and Elites were sent cartwheeling through the air, or just disappeared into blue and purple mist from the shrapnel of the missiles. But Mark didn't pay attention to the results of the barrage any longer for the first elements of the Space Marine column and the Covenant counter charge were exchanging fire. The first wave of Covenant Ghosts and Specters were either vaporized or turned to smoldering wreckage by the Predators escorting the armored thrust. One Ghost rocketed straight for Mark's Crusader. Leading the Ghost as it entered range of the multi-melta Mark loosed of a blast at the Ghost. It impacted dead center of the Ghost, instantly melting the Ghost chassis and fusing the driver's torso to the seat. The driver futilely tried to get of the Ghost but was crushed along with his vehicle beneath the treads of the Crusader. Then the two armored columns collided. Ghosts and Specters were riddled by concentrated storm bolter fire; others were turned to molten puddles by lascannon shots from Predators and Razorbacks. The hurricane bolters on the Crusader perforated several Ghosts that got to near and Mark accounted for several more with the multi-melta. After 3 minutes of concentrated and disciplined fire the Space Marine armored column left several hundred Covenant vehicles and Elites wrecked and dead in the forest ruins behind them. Suddenly the Crusader leaned forward as the Crusader went down the river side and into its bed. At least 3,000 Covenant plasma weapons opened fire on the column. Plasma shots whizzed and whined past Mark, who was crouched down behind the blast shield mounted to the multi-melta; returning fire along with the hurricane bolters on the Crusader and the other vehicles of the armored thrust. Hundreds of Covenant defenders were shredded and vaporized. Then the Crusader lurched upwards as it climbed up the side of the river. Letting go of the multi-melta Mark slid into the passenger compartment of the Crusader. Reattaching his storm shield and grabbing his thunder hammer Mark said "Every one get ready. Then the Crusader crashed into the Covenant lines. Several Grunts and Elites were crushed beneath the grinding treads of the Crusader. The frag launchers on the front of the Crusader detonated turning several more aliens to mist and paste. Then the ramp went down and Mark charged down the ramp, Terminator armor servos whining in protest. One dazed Elite was picking it's self up of the ground until Mark swung his thunder hammer down at its head. The thunder hammer passed straight through it's personal shield, pulverizing it's head into paste in a booming discharge of power. He then saw dozens of more Covenant converging on him and his honor guard. Grabbing his thunder hammer by the haft he stated to spin in a circle, straight at them. He spun straight into the group, thunder hammer booming continuously as it slammed into the body of another victim. After several seconds he stopped spinning and shaking his head to stop the dizziness he saw that he had launched several Grunts and Elites at least a dozen feet away in all directions. Surrounded by at least a dozen more he prepared to charge at one group till he "heard someone say "crouch" on the honor guard's vox channel. Dropping to one knee, several storm bolters, along with a cyclone missile launcher and at least two assault cannon reduced the remaining Covenant to wet gory piles. Getting back onto his feet Mark turned around and said "Well done Brothers now let us rejoin the battle". "Lead on Lord" the leader Veteran Terminator Marcus said, his assault cannon spinning to a stop. "Very well then follow me!" Mark shouted. He and his Terminator Honor Guard charging back into the giant melee as the Space Marines thrust in deeper to the Covenant lines, leaving behind Grunts, Jackals, and Elites plied into mounds of corpses…

"Die Xenos Scum!" Jonathan shouted as he bisected another Elite with his power sword. Whirling around he saw a strange U-shaped dropship try and land some more Covenant reinforcements but a krak missile streaked up and blow up the middle of the U, leaving the arms to fall flaming to the ground. But several others were disgorging aliens, several small bird like creatures hunched behind solid energy shields; along with their Elite overseers. Turning to Sergeant William he said "Have the HQ squad focus fire on their shields, lets see how much punishment they can take" "Yes sir!" William replied then in a voice to the two tactical squads that were following them he said "concentrate on the shield bearers!" "Roger" the sergeants in charge replied. Suddenly the Jackals came under disciplined bolter fire, arm mounted shields stopping only two or three bolts before overheating and collapsing; allowing their bodies to be blown apart by multiple bolt shells. Suddenly a whole swath was blown out of the covenant line as several Predator Destructors roared into the fray autocannons and heavy bolters pulping dozens of aliens. Suddenly a large giant green stream of plasma impacted the lead Predator, reducing it's front half to molten metal. The beam then swept across to another Predator reducing it to slag to. The remaining Predators swiveled their autocannons and firing them at something in the giant screen of smoke a few dozen yards in front on Jonathan and his squad. To Jonathans horror a giant metal leg reached out and skewered the Predator closest to the smoke. Pulling back up the leg flicked out sending the predator crashing into the ground at least 40 yards away. Suddenly the thing the leg is attached to lumbered out of the cloud. It stood at least 5 stories high on four legs and had a giant plasma cannon on the front of it which sort of looked like a mouth. 2 more smaller rapid fire plasma cannons sent streams of blue liquid into the Space Marine lines. Several plasma cannons, autocannons, lascannons, and krak missiles streaked up to hit it but just left scorch marks and dents in its armor. More alarming was that at least five more of the four legged machines had lumbered out of the gloom and proceeded to lay into the Space Marine lines with their plasma cannons. Snapping out of his funk Jonathan switched to the Chapter Masters vox channel. "Lord Mark these those Xenos things are…" "I know" Mark interjected "they are tearing into our lines, but don't worry Titan support is on it's way" He said reassuringly. "I hope so Lord, I hope so…"

"Princeps Brandon and James standby to drop!" said the gravely voice of the Steel Hammers Titan Legion Commander Constantine. "Roger" Said Brandon and James. Switching his vox channel to that of his fellow Princep's Warhound Titan, Brandon said "By the Emperor I thought they'd never launch us, I thought we'd just sit here and watch things develop without even setting foot on the ground." "You and me both" replied James. "Princep Brandon, standby for launch" said a mechanical voice. Switching to the internal vox of the _Defaeco Haereticum_. "all personnel standby for drop, strap yours selves in ladies were going in hot!" Brandon said. "Roger that" the various personnel replied. Satisfied with all the preparations; Brandon allowed him self to slip into the mind link of the Princeps chair. Instantly his view switched to that of the _Defaeco Haereticum_'s view. Weapons readiness, power levels, void shield integrity, and other vital pieces of information scrolled along his view. Distantly Brandon heard Commander Constantine give the order to launch. Suddenly the View switched from the interior of the _Mighty Anvil_'s holding bay, in which the other six Warhound Titans of the Steel Hammers were either undergoing maintenance or waiting for orders; to the drab steel interior of the HLV that the _Defaeco Haerectium_ was hurtiling towards Reach in. it took just under 50 seconds for the massive HLV with it's cargo to reach the predetermined altitude were it was supposed to fire the massive retro thrusters on its bottom. Underside retros firing the HLV still hit with a lot of force. Inside the HLV, Brandon's view shook with the impact; sending a thought through the mind link the door on the HLV fell open with a tremendous thud; Turning the few Covenant survivors of the HLV's impact to paste. Another thought and the _Defaeco Haerectium_ began striding out of the interior of the HLV. Glancing around Brandon saw that even with the massive underside retros, the HLV had still come down with enough force to create a small impact crater. Suddenly several tiny streaks of plasma hit the outer most void shields. Glancing down Brandon chuckled as he saw a group of aliens (crazily or foolishly) firing at him. With one thought the _Defaeco Haerectium_'s left foot came down on the aliens with a thud. Raising his foot back up to inspect his handy work he smiled with smug satisfaction as several dozen aliens were running away at the sight of his upraised leg. Setting it back down Brandon heard a Moderati called out "Chapter Master Mark Anthony sends greetings and asks if you and Princeps James in the _Igneus Canis_ could lend the Heralds of Light a hand." "tell him it would be our pleasure" Brandon replied. Turning in the direction of the dry river he saw 5 quadrupedal beetle like machines as tall as his Warhound advancing on the Heralds of Light; who had been driven back by the machines sudden appearance. Motioning James to follow him with a wave of his turbo-laser destructor Brandon set off through the Covenant lines, smashing several aliens with each foot step. Noticing he was in range he stoped and raised his turbo-laser destructor and aimed for the middle of one of the quad legged machines. The blast blew a hole in it from front to back. The machine's legs went limp and it crashed forward crushing several dozen aliens who had been sticking to close to it. Bringing up his other arm he shot at another with his plasma blastgun; melting the entire back half of the machine. The remains of the forward half collapsed backwards sending a plume of dirt and smoke into the air. With his view of the other 4 machines momentarily blocked, Brandon shifted his attention to the _Igneus Canis_ smiling as he saw James immolate several dozens of aliens with his inferno cannon, while turning his Vulcan mega-bolter on several small purple colored hover tanks that were sending little blue orbs of plasma at him; instantly several hundred massive caliber bolt shells into the bodies of the little tanks; shredding them into metal confetti before they could even explode. Suddenly Brandon was snapped out of spectating as two bight green beams of plasma impacted on his outer void shields, burning trough almost all of them; before he was able to maneuver out of the way. Glancing back at the smoke he saw that the 4 surviving quadrupedal machines had emerged through the smoke and 2 had stopped to shot at him, the other 2 lurching off after James. Snapping of a quick shot at one with his plasma blastgun, and firing at another with his turbo-laser destructor. The plasma blast melted off one of the machines legs turning the one behind the melted leg into a stub of a leg as the bottom half had been separated by the superheated blast. The machine fell on the stub and tried to stay up right till several small figures clambered up and into the interior of the machine; returning moments later and running back down the leg as several small explosions went off inside of the machine, culminating in the reactor going critical and knocking friend a foe down with the blast. The turbo-laser shot had struck the other machine in the reactor causing it to explode in a miniature green mushroom cloud, leaving behind the four legs which toppled onto the ground. Turning to engage the other two Brandon saw that it wasn't necessary. James had lit one on fire and it was standing completely still as dark black smoke billowed out of the entry point on it's top(later it would be discovered that the machines crew had literally cooked in the heat from the inferno cannon) while James blew off the others front legs. Marching over he raised his foot and brought it back down on the top of the machine, crushing the top inwards. Nodding in satisfaction at the aliens retreat after loosing their quad legged machines support, plus being pushed back with renewed vigor by the Heralds of Light; Brandon set off after them annihilating dozens of aliens with every shot, followed by James as he continued to pour hot streams of promethium and bolt shells at the retreating Xenos horde…

After the decisive route of the Covenant at the dry riverbed, the Heralds of Light struck deep into the heart of the main Covenant army. Leaving thousands of Grunts, Jackals, Elites, and Hunters dead and dying as the Heralds armored spearhead, being led by the 5th Company; charged deep into the heart of the Xenos army. Finally with help form the Fifth and Sixth Armageddon Steel Legions, the Covenant forces on Reach were butchered to the last Grunt, the Imperials giving and taking no mercy; much to the horror of the UNSC forces that fought along side them.

Now the question between the two forces was What Happens Next?? 


	6. Chapter 6: The Emperor's flame burns on

To Duckman 154, in regards to the Imperator Titan, you shall see later. Also they aren't back in time. The Necron weapon that hit them worked on unknown ancient technology (maybe a left over relic from the War in Heaven against the Old Ones) has transported them here in the middle of a full fledged war between some humans and an unknown (to the imperial forces at least) alien species.

To emperorprotects, to me they seem fine. I personally am not a fan of the Space Marine chapters that have to have a ceremony for every little thing. I like the chapters like the Space Wolves. Speaking of the Space Wolves are they not gung-ho? And I apologize for the walls of text. I think I've finally solved the walls of text problems you guys keep moaning about and the lack of a solution.

To Soulful Plain Strider, your remarks are very good to the issue that I.HAVE.A.PERSONALITY.DISORDER brought up when you talked about Space Marines not having emotions when they do. But so far they have been to busy fighting to have very many emotions, but that will change later on as the story goes.

To I.HAVE.A.PERSONALITY.DISORDER, Space Marines might have fear suppressed through hypno-indoctrination and genetic engineering but they are still susceptible to human emotions, Horus fell to vanity and pride. Fulgrim fell to perfectionism and sensuality (as in the Horus Heresy book Fulgrim). And others have felt things besides just being generally PO'd and cheerless. In the Space Wolves book Ragnar's Claw, Ragnar has feelings sort of like love towards a female inquisitor. And has feelings of sadness when she dies. So it's like Soulful said they are more distanced from their emotions than normal humans are, but even Space Marines, including Primarchs, who are superior to Space Marines can feel emotions. And sometimes they act fatally on their emotions just like normal men.

Anyways, statements and questions aside here is the newest chapter of Second Imperium.

"So… you all know what I have called you here for" Mark said

"The questions we have to ask ourselves first and foremost are painfully apparent."

Glancing around the briefing room next to the _Harbinger of Dawn_'s bridge; Mark was pleased to see that all of the senior officers of the combined Imperial fleet were in attendance. All ten captains of the Heralds of Light's varying companies stood to his left, along with Chief Librarian Rafael, and Senior Tech-Marine Isaac. Along with Gregor who even though he wasn't there for the decision making, he was there to lend support to and advise the Chapter Master since he was the oldest Dreadnought in the chapter.

A fact which struck Mark with a bit of irony since Gregor was also his oldest friend, at least alive Mark thought sadly. The rest of the Dreadnoughts were currently scattered about the ship, some chatting to Battle-brothers trying to catch up on the things that had happened since they had last been awakened. Others were just wandering about the ship, pausing to look out at the stars. Yet more still were gathered on the observation deck swapping old war stories with one another.

Returning to the men assembled around the briefing table, Mark spoke once more "The first obvious question is where in the love of the Emperor are we?"

Glancing at Isaac he said "I believe Brother Isaac and Tech-Cardinal Baroque have come up with the best answer to that question so I will let them talk".

Nodding his thanks Isaac pushed a button in front of him. "As far as we have been able to ascertain, when the Necron energy blast hit us it caused us to be dislocated from our universe and thrust into this one" as he had been speaking a video of the Necron tomb ship and the massive energy discharge played out ending in the bright green light engulfing the screen and the image going black.

"Now how this happened exactly we don't know, the Necrons have foul technologies vastly more advanced than our own."

Nodding in agreement to the last statement Tech-Cardinal Baroque said "And as such we have no way of being able to come anywhere near replicating that kind of technology so for the foreseeable future we are stuck here in this dimension" he stated in his mechanical voice.

"Also" Rafael said "I have conferred with the Navigators and the Astropaths of the fleet, the Warp is completely stable, with barely a ripple of disturbance". "That should be good a good thing right?" General List said.

"No that's not a good thing you pompous ass!" said Brigadier General Paulus; both representing the Imperial Guard in the discussions, General List being in charge of the Fifth and Sixth Steel Legions, and Paulus in charge of the Death Korps of Krieg Regiment.

"How dare you say such a thing to a superior officer I'll…" List started to say in a highly offended tone, reaching for his power sword.

"Both of you will do nothing to each other as long as you are here on the _Harbinger of Dawn_, so cut that kind of stuff out!" Mark shouted. "Now as Rafael was saying…" turning to Rafael, Mark nodded for him to continue, keeping the two generals in the corner of his vision.

"Right as I was saying, even though the Warp is practically smooth as glass we still cannot make a safe warp jump due to the fact that the guiding beacon of the Astronomican is gone" Rafael said. He might as well have said that the Warmaster Horus was back from the dead, thought Mark; because it got so quite the only sounds were those of respiration, the strange mechanical whirring sounds coming from under Tech-Cardinal Baroque's red robes, and the combustion taking place in the engine on Gregor's back.

"So that confirms what Isaac and Baroque have told us, that we aren't in the Halo Stars any more" said Mark with grim humor.

"Now our next obvious choice is what do we do now, because as it stands it appears we have come just in time to help the humans of this universe avoid a major military defeat and setback at the hands of these Xenos who dare give themselves a name and that their genocidal campaign against the humans of this universe is the will of their blasphemous gods." Mark said the last words with palpable hatred.

"Now we can both lend these people a hand, which it appears they sorely, need and bring to them the light and glory of the Emperor in the process." Pausing to let the words sink in Mark said "Or we could sit around praying for the Emperor to provide us a way to get back to our universe, which I might add it seems completely unlikely" after a few seconds Mark spoke once more "Or we could find a nearby habitable world, settle on it and bury our heads in the sand".

After a few more minutes of uneasy silence Mark decided to call a vote, the decision was unanimous, all were in favor of lending there fellow man a hand. As the meeting was about to be dismissed a harried looking tech-adept barged into the room followed by two angry looking Marines with bolt pistols drawn.

"What in the name of the Immortal Emperor could be so important that you would interrupt this meeting?" Mark asked; motioning for the Marines to stand down.

"I'm sorry Lord Mark" the adept said nearly doubling over bowing. "But the Tech-Cardinal requested to be notified if any significant breakthroughs were made in the humans FTL drive." Turning to Tech-Cardinal Baroque he said excitedly "We've figured it works almost exactly like our warp drives"

"Oh, how so?" Baroque said in his mechanical voice.

"Well, we found out that it tunnels into another dimension just like our warp drives tunnel into the Warp; but this dimension they tunnel into is completely stable with no danger of any mishaps" the adept replied.

"Can we replicate this technology?" Mark said before Baroque could speak.

"As a matter of fact we can and during our research we found out that the way they did it was just by ripping a hole into that dimension through brute strength and then keeping it open long enough for a ship to get through." Pausing for breath the adept went on "we managed to streamline the whole process so now if we were to use this drive we would just slip into this space with a minimal use of energy, which is why maybe they call them slipspace drives."

Grasping at the first part Mark said "so this will allow us to travel between stars again?" "Yes it most certainly will Lord" replied the tech-adept.

Glancing around to see that this new bit of information had sunk in Mark clapped his hands together, scaring the entire assembly and said "good then how long will it take us to retrofit all our ships Tech-Cardinal?" the adept passed Baroque a datapad; which after a few moments of study Baroque replied "based upon this data at least 10 to 15 hours at the most".

"Very well then you all heard him return to you ships and make you forces and personnel ready, for after the Tech-Cardinal and his fellow priest are done we shall head to Holy Terra herself and show our new allies what the armies of the Imperium look like, and show them how advantageous it will be with us fighting by their side, because I for one pity the poor Xenos who have to fight us next!" glancing from one individual to another Mark said

"Men we have been presented a chance to right the past, we have a chance to found a Second Imperium, free of the taint of the alien, the mutant, the heretic. We have a chance to render the Horus Heresy null and create the kind of Imperium that the Immortal Emperor had tried to make before the Arch-Traitor rose up and shattered his dream"

a short time after that last statement the entire fleet went up in a collectively tremendous cheer as word got out of the fleets new mission, to be the spearhead of a Second Great Crusade…

**0500 Hours, August 31, 2552 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani System, Reach UNSC Military Complex, planet Reach. Camp Hathcock**

Master Chief stepped on the brakes of the Warthog pulling up to a stop a few feet from the gates. A shaken looking MP jogged over to him, stopping to check his identification papers, upon seeing the Spartan armor on him the MP waved to the other guard to open the gate saying "Go on in Chief their expecting you".

Putting his foot on the gas, John speed on down the gravel road, swerving to avoid burned out Warthogs and the smoking chassis of Scorpion tanks. Five minutes later he pulled up in front of the main facility, grimacing at the damage done to the place. Climbing out of the Warthog he walked up to the MP in front of the entrance, the MP just nodded and went back to scanning the horizon.

John thought of the futility of that as he rode the elevator down to Subbasement III. There at least some semblance of order remained as the MP attendant told him to wait outside in the debriefing lounge. Also waiting in the lounge was Captain Keyes, Whom the chief saluted promptly, where's Keyes sketched a frazzled salute and said "At ease Chief".

Glancing around the room John also noticed Dr.Halsey sitting in a seat next to the doors. Upon noticing him she stood up and walked over to him extending a hand and saying "Hello John, how are you?"

"I'm fine ma'am it's good to see you again even if it was so soon." John replied.

Ignoring his second comment she asked"So I heard you fought alongside these, what do they call themselves? Space Marines that's right, anyways so you fought alongside them did you?"

Before John could reply the doors swung open and the MP attendant motioned for them to enter. Sighing Dr. Halsey walked in followed by Keyes, last was John. They were standing under a spotlight while in the shadows John could see the same outlines and hear the same voices as those who had grilled him earlier in this chamber. Suddenly a voice spoke up out of the whispers and said "Enough we have to face facts, that Covenant fleet would have defeated us no matter what we would have done".

Another voice spoke up and said "let's review the evidence shall we?"

with that a video appeared showing the massive Imperial capital ship shoot one shot from it's humongous center line cannon, whose barrel was large enough to park at least a UNSC frigate in. and send a shell straight into the Covenant armada to impact dead center on a Covenant ship that to UNSC standards was massive but compared to this new ship it was only about a third of the size, and get sucked up in a massive vortex that proceeded to suck in almost the entire Covenant fleet into. Leaving a few survivors who proceeded to move around and bombard the other side of the planet sparingly, leaving large brown spots on an other wise blue and green world, drop of a staggering amount of ground troops then flee into slipspace.

"Unbelievable, simply unbelievable that one shot could annihilate an entire fleet.", the voice next to the figure in the center said "it's positively mind bending"

"that's not all" the center figure said again.

Another video played, this time (John could tell it was his combat camera) showing group of giant white armored giants with gold trim charging up the side of a brown, singed hill and upon seeing Covenant scurrying around on the other side raise massive guns and unload their clips into them, blowing them to wet ragged pieces. Someone in the shadows coughed uncomfortably. The video speed up to show a giant with a massive whirring sword with what appeared to be chainsaw blades swing it into an Elite with such strength that it's personal shield collapsed, allowing the chainsaw blades to tear the Elite clean in two at the waist.

Then it speed up again to show another giant heft a blocky version of a plasma gun and fire it at a Hunter that was firing at some armored giants taking cover behind a rock, and the bluish super heated plasma burn a hole straight through it's center of mass, toppling the Hunter forward.

The film speed up once more to show another squad of giants line up a group of 12 Grunts against a couple of rocks and open fire on them firing squad style and pump the little Grunts so full of what had to be mass reactive shells their little bodies disintegrated, one jumped out of the way and tried to run but had it's legs blown out with two precision aimed shots, and the silver helmed leader stride over and watch the creature continue to try and escape before taking out what looked like a combat knife only larger and run it through the Grunts head.

"As you can see not only do they have superior technology, they have cold-hearted brutality and unwavering determination to go along with it" said the speaker on the right of the central figure, gesturing to the last clip.

"No wonder how they wiped out a Covenant army at least 20 times it's size" said the central figure. "Now that the immediate Covenant threat has been dealt with…" suddenly he was interrupted by a MP who rushed in saying "Sir we have a situation!"

"Really?" Keyes said to himself, though John could hear him. Turning to the MP, John wondered what the problem was…

6 hours after retuning in the HLV that had carried the _Defaeco Haerectium_ to Reach and back. Princep Brandon was called to Commander Constantine's Office; saluting him Brandon said "You wanted to see me sir?" "Ah yes Brandon good of you to arrive so promptly the sooner we get this mess resolved the better" Constantine said returning Brandon's salute. "What would that be sir?" Brandon asked, folding his hands behind his Princeps robes. "Well…We need a replacement Princeps for _Esurio Filius_."

"What for Sir?" Brandon replied. "I thought that Princep Vilas was in command of it"

"Well he was till about 2 hours ago" Constantine stated matter of factually.

"Okay Sir I'm sad that he's dead and it's a loss to our Legion, but what does that have to do with me?" Brandon said.

"Well Vilas had the same gift for being able to sift through vast amounts of data without being overwhelmed by it all; something few in all of the Titan Legions posses. And since he was pretty much the only one in control of the _Esurio Filius_, we think that it would refuse to cooperate with some one that it perceived as weak because they needed the help of a few Moderati to operate it." Constantine explained.

"So where exactly do I fit into this?" Brandon asked, realization of what was happening causing him to swell with pride.

"Well as we said you're the only other Princep who has the same ability, so from now on you will be in charge of the _Esurio Filius_, but I want to say that even though you showed your mettle against those aliens on Reach doesn't mean that you have been instantly promoted to being in charge of an Imperator Titan. So I'm warning you now do not, I repeat do not let this go to your head, got me?" Constantine said.

"Sir, Yes Sir" Brandon said standing ramrod straight.

"Very well then Brandon I want you to make you final goodbyes to the _Defaeco Haerectium_ and catch a shuttle over to the _Esurio Filius_'s HLV, the _Massive_; got that?" Constantine asked staring at Brandon.

"Sir, perfectly clear Sir!" Brandon said, saluting.

"Very well as soon as you get to the _Massive_ I want you to begin getting used to running it" Constantine said as he moved to sit behind his desk again.

"What for sir?" Brandon asked, generally puzzled.

"Why, haven't you heard?" Constantine as he shifted through a stack of maintenance and other reports.

"Heard what sir?" Brandon asked perplexed that as a Princeps he had almost potentially missed something important.

"That the we are headed to holy Terra herself and as the biggest symbols of the majesty and glory of the Imperium and the God-Emperor our entire Legion will be deployed along with the entirety of the Heralds of Light, plus the mighty 5th Armageddon Steel Legion will deploy in it's entirety to display the military might of the common man in the Imperial Guard; also theirs to be a massive air show by the Imperial Navy, with lots of Lightning and Thunderbolt fighters, plus Marauder bomber formations." Constantine said, visibly swelling with pride at each sentence.

"But can you guess who the stars of the show are?" Constantine whispered conspiratorially.

"No sir who are they?" Brandon said feigning ignorance.

"The most powerful machines ever created in the Universe the two Imperator Titans of our proud Steel Hammers Titan Legion!!" Constantine shouted.

Brandon simply nodded his head and with another crisp salute hurried off to get squared away for the event which was just a few hours away…

As soon as all the shuttles, fighters patrols, and other small ships were retrieved and safely tucked away within the hulls of the bigger ships; the entire 1st Imperium Expeditionary Fleet activated their Slipspace drives and jumped into a gateway of bright light. Their destination, Earth to the men and women of the UNSC and though they were human just like the bulk of the Imperial force, to the Imperials it was something else entirely.

To the men and women of the 1st Imperial Expeditionary Fleet it was not only the cradle of humanity but it was the world that the Immortal Emperor himself was born on and it was there in the 41st millennium in their universe that he sat upon the Golden Throne since time unremembered to all of the humans in the 1st IEF. But to the Space Marines of the Heralds of Light, it was a raw scar still remembered as the single worst time in the history of Mankind; and the history of their chapter…


End file.
